Tuesday, March 29, 2016

The New York Pizza Project is a coffee table book documenting the heart and soul of New York City’s last authentic pizzerias through photography and interviews with a foreword written by New York Times best-selling author, and native Brooklynite, Jonathan Lethem.

The book, created and published by five 30-year-old native New Yorkers--Gabe Zimmer, Nick Johnson, Ian Manheimer, Corey Mintz, and Tim Reitzes--is a wonderful and colorful journey through a classic New York City landmark, the pizzeria, which can be found on every block, in every neighborhood...

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Happy Easter and happy spring renewal to all! Easter developed from the Old English word Ēastre or Ēostre, derived from the Anglo-Saxon Pagan month of Eostur-monath (which roughly corresponds to our month of April). This month was named after the goddess Ēostre or Ostara who symbolized the dawn, spring, renewal, and rebirth of the earth after the long winter.

Now we celebrate by decorating eggs, a symbol of birth and fertility and new growth, and with chocolate rabbits, since bunnies are also a symbol of spring.

When I was little, I always loved Easter time because my grandmother displayed vases of daffodils and lilies, and panoramic sugar eggs around the house. And my aunt hollowed out eggs, cut a window in the side of the shell, and painstakingly assembled pastoral scenes inside using miniature trees and flowers, and tiny ceramic rabbits to make literal panoramic eggs. But the best part was the Easter Bunny who came to deliver beautifully dyed and decorated eggs in a basket full of chocolate and treats; my mom and dad would guide me through the house with clues as to where the Easter Bunny hid my basket (thanks Mom and Dad--I miss you)!

Friday, March 25, 2016

Jam City (the nom de musique of London DJ/producer and musician Jack Latham) has released a new record, "Dream A Garden," and its sound is quite different from what Latham has created in the past. I am liking the mash-up of styles in this track, "Proud." It's a bit ambient, a bit electronic, and a bit 80s funk (slow jam Prince?). The repetitive groove is lulling, soothing...

His manifesto for the new collection is quite inspiring. Latham believes in a neoliberal perspective. He told Crack Magazine, “As part of an underground culture, even if it is global now, it’s important to realise the power in not being immediately monetised or having capital expectations of ourselves. We can honestly take things wherever we want. We have this huge opportunity to talk about these things, to open up conversations. I really want to contribute to that, to start a dialogue.”“It comes from learning to love yourself, to love others, reclaiming your ability to dream. I don’t know how we can change this world systematically, but I do know that it’s possible. The first step is resisting, saying no to a lot of the awful ideologies of this world, selfishness, greed, money, to reclaim the dream. The society we live in tries to buy our bodies and sell them back to us in a strange form. It conspires to estrange us from our own bodies, our sexualities, our own capacities to love and genuinely respect one another. It’s important to begin a process of saying no to this. While I don’t have the direct solution to dismantle the apparatus, it’s a starting point to realise that as a world we’re allowed to dream, we’re allowed to create a space that hasn’t been colonised, been alienated from us yet. A dream is the first step, allowing love into your life in whatever capacity, and trying to live according to those principles in a way.”

Thursday, March 24, 2016

A Spanish company, Bel & Bel has made good use of old Vespa parts--they have turned them into one-of-a-kind, limited edition chairs!

Their website says:"Bel & Bel Chair is made from original parts of the legendary Italian scooter from the 80’s. Re-using the chassis we have created an original and unique model of swivel chair. Our Scooter Chair is manufactured, customized and handmade in full by Bel & Bel. It is a numbered series what makes each piece unique. All come with a Bel & Bel certificate of authenticity. The chair has a reclining feature, a reinforced internal structure and a base with hydraulic piston to regulate and adjust to the most convenient height. It is a very comfortable ergonomic chair, imitation leather upholstered and soft tread silent wheels."

In a press release, Pritchard said, "The original instrumental to 'Beautiful People' is a personal song about loss, hopelessness and chaos, but ultimately the message is love and hope. Thom's contribution to this collaboration captured perfectly what the piece is about. I will be forever grateful to have worked with such a immense talent."

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Warner Williams paints kaleidoscopic images of California's landscapes and locations, creating an homage to the Golden State. I love how he layers classic West Coast architecture on the bottom of the canvas over an equally classic California vista on top. He says, "By using multiple vanishing points I can see over many horizons. I seek the level of poetry and music in a tightly structured whole." Whether we are seeing an A-frame cabin, a Southern California ranch house, or a South San Francisco split-level, we get to enjoy the Hollywood Hills, the Santa Monica pier or Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, or the Marin Headlands behind them. And all in candy-colored, psychedelic, technicolor!

Monday, March 21, 2016

London-based Italian producer and musician Mattia Del Moro's nom de musique is Delta Club and he has released "Fortitude," an EP featuring this marvelous song "The Nomadic Alternative." Digital snippets arranged in layers of swirling world music while at the same time an expansive, yearning ballad floats below...

Speaking about the track, Del Moro told the website goiongsolo, “The song is inspired by Bruce Chatwin’s book ‘The Nomadic Alternative’ in which the author explores the concept of a new nomadism. The fact that the book has never been published gave us a chance to think about the impossibility for the art to fully represent such an experience as traveling. The music of Delta Club lies on this contradiction.”

On a related note, Bruce Chatwin inspired not only Mattia Del Moro's song, but a marvelous collection of clothes by Christopher Bailey at Burberry, previously here.

About Me

About "Oh, By The Way"

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/ clothing or interior designer/ model/ singer/ actor/ gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/ photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/ band... or, read this book/ poem/ inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious.

Some of the photos, art, poetry, and prose are my own original work, credited with my initials, JEF. When it isn't, I always try to post links to the original source material, but often I find photos on the web that are not linked or other material that is not sourced. In these instances, I post them without malice since it is assumed that such things, by being globally posted on something as uncontrollable as the internet to begin with, are in the public domain. If you identify the source of an image that is not linked, please politely let me know (without accusing me of theft) and I will be happy to provide a link.

I hope to inspire and entertain my readers with things that inspire and entertain ME. There is a startling amount of beauty and creativity in the world and it enriches us all to participate in it.

All-time Favorite Films

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)

After Hours (Hysterical, hair-raising ride through NYC at night)

Amelie

American Beauty (Alan Ball)

Baraka (Stunning, transcending—the "spiritus mundi" on film)

Belle et Bete (Cocteau)

Big Sleep, The (The epitome of film noir)

Bringing Up Baby (Hepburn & Grant—the epitome of screwball comedy)

Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The (Greenaway)

Crash (Cronenberg—DIFFICULT subject, not for everyone)

Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg—ultimate modern gothic horror)

Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)

Easy Rider

Edward II (Derek Jarman)

Erendira (From magic realist Marquez’ brilliant short story)

Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick's last film)

Fearless (Jeff Bridges—life and death)

Funny Bones (Leslie Caron, Jerry Lewis, and the brilliant Lee Evans)

Holiday (Hepburn & Grant)

Howard’s End (The ultimate statement of the unfairness of class systems)